Remarks by the President to Embassy Personnel
Leopold Sedar Senghor International Airport
Dakar, Senegal

THE PRESIDENT: I thank you all very much for coming out to say
hello. Laura and I are honored to be here with you all. I'm also, as
you could see, traveling with quite distinguished company -- our great
Secretary of State Colin Powell is with us, as well. (Applause.) I want
to thank Ambassador Roth and his wife, Carol, for their service to our
country.

I'm here to thank our fellow citizens who are serving a great land.
Thank you for your dedication and your love of country. I want to thank
the foreign nationals who are helping our fellow citizens make sure the
embassy runs so well. (Applause.)

This is an historic trip -- oh, there's the Ambassador. (Applause.)
But we are so honored to start our trip to this continent here in
Senegal. I had the opportunity to go out to Goree Island and talk about
what slavery meant to America. It's very interesting when you think
about it, the slaves who left here to go to America, because of their
steadfast and their religion and their belief in freedom, helped change
America. America is what it is today because of what went on in the
past. Yet when I looked out over the sea, it reminded me that we've
always got to keep history in mind. And one of the things that we've
always got to know about America is that we love freedom, that we love
people to be free, that freedom is God's gift to each and every
individual. That's what we believe in our country.

I'm here to spread that message of freedom and peace. Where we see
suffering, America will act. Where we find the hungry, we will act.
We're here not only on a mission of mercy, we're also here on a mission
of alliance. And I want to thank you all for helping make that come
true.

May God bless you all. And may God continue to bless Senegal and
America. Thank you all very much. (Applause.)